Guatemala
By Grace Thornton
The Alabama Baptist
Larry Plyler smiled as he talked about one particular tiny Guatemalan village so isolated that the missions team who visited it had to park and walk for several miles to get there.
“There’s no electricity and no running water,” Plyler said. It’s a place, he explained, that the team found to be filled with very, very poor people — and one burned-out pastor.
“He (the pastor) is a worker in the fields there, and he just didn’t know how to effectively get out in the village and share with folks,” said Plyler, who along with his wife, Sarah, serves as strategy coordinator for Operation GO, which sends teams into Guatemalan villages to prayer walk and share the gospel door to door.
But since the team came and worked alongside that pastor in the village, he gets off work earlier just to “go do what the North Americans showed him how to do,” Plyler said.
Through Operation GO, five new churches have been planted in villages like this by teams from Alabama since the partnership with Guatemala began, one of which held its first service Nov. 22. Other teams — so many that the Plylers had to turn away some this year — have furthered the work in scores of other villages.
“When the teams come to serve, our pastors and lay leaders have a key to open the door to get into these homes,” Plyler said.
Alabama Baptists’ other strategy in the nation, GT projects (from .gt, the Internet country code for Guatemala), is gaining steam as well, according to Carlos Lemus, Hispanic missionary for Autauga and Chilton Baptist associations.
“Things are being achieved that we (Guatemalan Baptists) didn’t have in the past,” said Lemus, who is originally from Guatemala.
Where Operation GO teams focus on evangelism, GT projects can encompass anything from construction to backyard Bible clubs to medical missions. “Our teams work alongside Baptist churches there to encourage them in doing God’s work,” Lemus said.
Opportunities abound for Alabama Baptist churches wanting to partner with churches in Guatemala. For information, call Reggie Quimby at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 239.
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Ukraine
By Jennifer Davis Rash
The Alabama Baptist
Korniychuk Andriy, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Rivne, Ukraine, noted positive influences taking place in Ukraine because of Alabama Baptists.
“The thing that has been most important is the sending of your pastors to teach the course on ‘Experiencing God,’” Andriy said, noting the increased spiritual maturity among the pastors in his area.
“Another thing that is positive is the associational partnerships, especially Covington Association, which is partnering with Rivne.”
Overall, the partnership is a great support, he said. “It is a face-to-face, personal partnership with brothers and sisters. It is excellent that you send your pastors to us. Partnership from a distant doesn’t go anywhere, but a personal partnership means something.”
As far as church planting goes, Andriy said, “The most effective way is to hold camps and use the English language.
“For the last two years, these types of camps have been held,” he said. “There were over 60 at a camp who have no contact with a church. They came because of their interest in learning the English language.
“We don’t need large groups, but small groups investing one week to do this,” he explained. “One of the effective things that can be done is a day-time camp (similar to a backyard Bible club). Even the local state schools will allow us to hold these camps on their campuses during the summer,” Andriy said. “When the community hears real-live Americans, especially teenagers, are coming, it is a real draw.
“The crafts and handiworks are also a draw. You have so many speciality items and that is wonderful,” he said. Still, “it is not about the craft but when you get to sit together and share about God.”
Andriy also pointed out some areas where Alabama Baptists can continue to help.
1. Addiction ministry assistance through clothing and dental work.
2. Sports clinics to attract teenagers.
For information, call Reggie Quimby at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 239.
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Michigan
By Brittany N. Howerton
The Alabama Baptist
In a population of 10 million, 80 percent of people in Michigan are lost and in need of someone to share the gospel with them, said Michael Collins, executive director of the Michigan Baptist State Convention. And that’s what the Alabama-Michigan missions partnership is all about.
“We hope the partnership will help strengthen and give a different vision to our people where they are,” Collins said.
“And we hope [our churches] can gain a greater sense of what we can do.”
Recently, 36 Alabama Baptist volunteers dispersed into 31 Michigan churches hosting revival services to further the gospel in the northern communities, where there are nearly 8 million lost people and Southern Baptists compose approximately one-half of 1 percent of the state population, Collins said.
During the revivals, there were 14 professions of faith and 81 lives rededicated to Christ’s service.
“There’s some tilling going on, there’s some seed planting,” Collins said. “We’re in all stages of that (growth) process just depending on what church it is.”
Of the 300 Southern Baptist churches in the state, Collins reported that approximately 110 run less than 26 in Sunday School attendance, while 22 another churches run more than 200.
“One of our goals is to work alongside Michigan Baptists to help fulfill the Great Commission — that all could hear,” said Scotty Goldman, state missionary in the office of global missions and Alabama coordinator for the Alabama-Michigan partnership.
In addition to revivals and association-to-association partnerships, Alabama Baptists have also supplied financial gifts to Michigan churches as well as 30 computers to church planters, Collins added.
But there’s always more to be done, Goldman said, noting approximately 60 Michigan projects are currently available in which churches can participate. For information, visit www.alsbom.org/global or call Reggie Quimby at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 239.
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